Zentomino in Review – Tangrams: Hyper Edition

Playing the various tangram games offered in the AppStore became second nature to me. I would breeze by puzzle after puzzle, sometimes taking less than a minute for each one. I thought it was al child’s play. Then, I found this game, and I have to admit that Zentomino has humbled me.

Zentomino comes from the same group that gave us TanZan. It is a fun rendition of the classic game, Pentomino. From the wikipedia.org page:

“A pentomino is a polyomino composed of five (Greek πέντε / pente) congruent squares, connected orthogonally. There are twelve different pentominoes, often named after the letters of the Latin alphabet that they vaguely resemble.”

The objective of the game is to fill in the shaded area using anywhere between 4-12 pentominoes. While this may seem like a simple endeavor, I assure you, it is not. Little White Bear Studios takes the tangrams formula, jacks it on steroids, and unleashes it onto the unexpected public. Yet, despite its difficulty level, I find myself consistently struggling to finish just one more puzzle.

From the website:

“Find your Zen again, with this relaxing, yet challenging, take on the traditional pentomino puzzle game! Forget high scores. Say goodbye to timers. It’s just you and the puzzles. Simple. Serene. Zen. Position up to twelve differently shaped pieces to form a larger shape.”

What makes this game difficult, I mean really pushes it over the edge is the ability to flip the pieces. While this may not affect every pentomino, there are enough that do get affected. This means that instead of 12 pieces to choose from, you have a possibility of at least 17 options. This subtle change does much to intensify the difficulty level.

With the increase of difficulty, it is a good thing there is no score or time that is kept. The only demarcation of progress is finishing the puzzle. All 144 are open to you from the get go. So you can progress in your own way and your own pace. If one puzzle begins to frustrate you, you can move onto the next one and come back later. Zentomino will save the current state of your puzzle.

One aspect of the game that did irk me, though, was the hints system. If you double touch an empty space, a silhouette appears cluing you in as to where to place one piece. You can do this a limited amount of times. Being an impatient guy, there are just some puzzles I cannot finish. I would have liked the option to to have more than this.

Overall, this is a challenging, but well done puzzle game in the same heart and vein of tangrams. It appeals to the same crowd and is a must get for those who find tangrams less challenging. This is currently the best pentomino game the AppStore has to offer. If you’re still unsure, check out the lite version of the App.